This review was made possible by screeners of all episodes of 3 Body Problem provided by Netflix. 3 Body Problem premieres Thursday, March 21st, 2024.
3 Body Problem, based on the sci-fi epic from award-winning author Cixin Liu (titled “The Three Body Problem“), comes to Netflix in an all-new series from Game of Thrones showrunners David Benioff and D.B. Weiss. 3 Body Problem follows a group of friends who find themselves in the middle of a murder mystery involving the world’s top scientists. When members of the group begin to play a mysterious virtual reality game, their involvement snowballs into a grand conspiracy that questions what it means to be human and our place in the universe.
3 Body Problem is a true sci-fi epic that pushes the boundaries of the genre and brings Cixin Liu’s infinitely creative imagination to life. It is a story about humanity, love, our place in the universe, and our ultimate resolve for survival in the face of impossible circumstances.
Welcome To The World Of 3 Body (Problem)
3 Body Problem is a truly stunning piece of television, filled with twists and turns that deepen the mystery and keep audiences guessing throughout its eight episodes. One of the biggest strengths of the series is its ability to take the core themes of Liu’s book and make them easily digestible. The book 3 Body Problem is a groundbreaking work in the sci-fi genre filled with deep scientific and philosophical questions that focus on humanity’s place in the universe and with each other. Lui’s novel is very dense with practical science that he uses to stretch the limits of his imagination and the readers.
The use of science and theory is one of the things that make the book so profound, but if you’re not a fan of science fiction stories, it may feel a bit dense and an overload of information. Benioff and Weiss are able to tap into these core themes from the book and truly bring Lui’s vision to life in a way that is both faithful to the source material and more accessible to new fans of the genre.
The Cast
While Benioff and Weiss successfully translate many of the core themes of “The Three Body Problem” to tell a gripping and compelling story, the cast truly makes this adaptation work and propels it into something extraordinary. The main cast of the Oxford Five is outstanding, consisting of Joven Adepo (Saul Durand), John Bradley (Jack Rooney), Eiza González (Auggie Salazar), Jess Hong (Jin Cheng), and Alex Sharp (Will Downing).
While all of the characters are original to the show, they capture the most crucial elements of the main character from the book and give the audience a much broader scope of the threat that these characters face. While, at times, it can feel like the show loses focus switching between these five characters, the series is able to successfully weave together all of their individual story threads into something that is a touching and personal story about love, friendship, and the human experience.
All the performances are great, but certain characters, such as Jin Cheung (Jess Hong), stand out above the rest. Jin is one of the characters we spend the most time with, and Hong’s performance as the brilliant theoretical physicist is astounding. She is able to portray Jin’s intelligence and humanity expertly as the character slowly discovers and reflects on what is truly important as the show progresses, as well as the moral and practical implications that come from her theories. While the whole cast did an incredible job bringing this story to life, Jess Hong’s performance was the heartbeat of this series.
From Page To Screen
While 3 Body Problem is a fantastic series in both scale and scope, several deviations from Cixin Liu’s books may cause fans of the book to be disappointed.
One of the most compelling parts of the 3 Body Problem book is how Liu uses physics and scientific theory to describe the human condition and humanity’s place in the universe. The show uses science, but it’s used more as a device to move the plot forward as opposed to dissecting these more profound concepts of the human experience.
There are many things in the book, such as The Shooter and The Farmer Hypothesis, that bring the reader’s attention to just how small we are in comparison to the universe, with one chapter even taking place almost entirely from the perspective of an ant to represent the differences in perspective compared to dimensional space. While the show includes homages to some of these elements, it felt much more rushed to get to the big moments than to really explore some of the more profound themes that Liu portrays in his book.
Some of these changes may upset some hardcore fans of the book, but they are justified for bringing this story into a live-action series. The beauty of Liu’s book is his ability to use science and history to craft a compelling and thought-provoking narrative that makes us question our place in the universe. This works beautifully for the book, but a series needs to be able to appeal to a broad audience of people, not just fans of science fiction.
Shifting the series to focus more on the ethical implications and experiencing it through the eyes of this group of people who represent all different aspects of humanity helps make the show more accessible if you aren’t well-versed in things such as the Fermi Paradox or theoretical physics.
‘3 Body Problem’ – Final Thoughts
3 Body Problem is phenomenal. It is a series that pushes the boundaries of the science fiction genre and brings Cixin Liu’s extraordinary vision to life. The incredible cast and its deeply layered mystery propel the series into something unique and exciting that is able to stand on its own from its source material. While missing some of the more profound themes of Liu’s book, Netflix’s 3 Body Problem ultimately succeeds in adapting the core of the book and gives Liu’s extraordinary work new life.
3 Body Problem premieres on Netflix on March 21, 2024. Check out the trailer below.
The Review
TL;DR
3 Body Problem is a true sci-fi epic that pushes the boundaries of the genre and brings Cixin Liu's infinitely creative imagination to life. The incredible cast and its deeply layered mystery propel the series into something unique and exciting that is able to stand on its own from its source material.
3 Body Problem is Netflix's big bet. Does it pay off?
8.5
